Suzette Martinez Standring: Compelling Holocaust stories of rescue

Friday

Sep 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2009 at 4:18 PM

A new book, “They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust,” (2009 University of Missouri Press) offers never-before-told narratives by Jewish survivors in Poland who were saved from Nazi extermination by non-Jewish rescuers.

Suzette Martinez Standring

Sept. 1 marked the 70th anniversary of World War II, during which two-thirds of Europe’s nine million Jews perished in the Holocaust.

In 1939, the majority of them lived in Poland. By 1944, more than 90 percent of Poland’s Jewish citizenry had been murdered in the death camps.

That a remnant remained at all is attributable to chance, the survivors’ will to exist and in some cases, the help extended by non-Jews. Were the rescuers’ efforts fueled by their desire “to do the right thing”? The answer is no, not in every case, but survival trumps purity of motivation.

A new book, “They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust,” (2009 University of Missouri Press) offers never-before-told narratives by Jewish survivors in Poland who were saved from Nazi extermination by non-Jewish rescuers.

Co-authors Bill Tammeus, a Missouri journalist and Presbyterian elder, and Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn of the New Reformed Temple in Kansas City, Mo., crisscrossed Poland and the U.S. to interview survivors and to corroborate accounts with their rescuers and eyewitnesses.

Why would the rescuers – many of whom were acquaintances and non-relatives – risk their own lives and jeopardize their families’ safety to extend help at a time when offering aid was a Nazi crime punishable by death in Poland? In the present day, which of us would do the same?

“We concluded that these are questions that cannot be answered with any certainty unless and until we face such circumstances,” wrote the authors in the book’s introduction.

The circumstances were extreme. Yet the very ordinariness of those involved bears witness to the possible greatness in each of us. And while the ideal of “doing the right thing” was a strong element of the rescuers’ mindset, many stories show that other reasons came into play.

A Polish officer, Jusik Gondorowicz, was a family friend and fond of Maria Devinki even though she was married. Jusik acted as a go-between for her family and a farmer who hid them in his barn. There Devinki’s family lived under the floorboards in a shallow, grave-shaped hole dug into the soil. They ventured out only between midnight and 4 a.m. After the war, Devinki emigrated to the U.S. and stayed in touch with Gondorowicz, for whom she has a lifelong gratitude.

“In his eyes, it was not the money. In his eyes it was he’s going to save human beings,” she said.

As to the farmer to whom she paid $2,000 a month during their two-year ordeal, she believes his desire for the money outweighed his own fear of discovery by the Nazis.

In yet another account, a Jewish mother’s love compelled Batia Weksler to convince Polish Catholic acquaintances to take her infant son, hide his identity and to raise him. Batia begged Emilia Waskinel, “You believe in Jesus Christ. You told me you believe in God. You know Jesus Christ was a Jew, so please save my Jewish child because you believe in Jesus Christ. Please take care of this child.”

The challenge to her faith compelled Emilia to say yes, despite her terror of the Nazis.

That same little boy grew up to become a Catholic priest, Father Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel, who now teaches at Lubin University in Poland. It was a spiritual calling he came to on his own. Because his parents were devout Catholics and loving parents, their dismay and opposition surprised and confused him.

In his story, it took 35 years for Father Romuald to discover his Jewish ancestry. Looking markedly different from his parents, he assumed his birth was the product of a wartime rape because his questions were met with pained silence throughout his adulthood. Many assumptions he made that affected his self-worth were banished when he finally discovered the truth.

Each survivor’s story shows the different elements that came into play regarding rescue: compassion, humanitarian ideals, religious beliefs, luck, financial gain or romantic interest. But rescuers shared one thing in common. They personally knew the people they were helping.

It might suggest that survival is enhanced when one’s circle grows to include people of different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. But most of all, the stories in “They Were Just People” point to the innate spirituality that empowered everyday folks to act beyond their own self-interests.

Patriot Ledger contributor Suzette Martinez Standring is the award-winning author of "The Art of Column Writing." Visit www.readsuzette.com or e-mail her at : suzmar@comcast.net.

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